“We need to regroup,” Skye announced after a moment of contemplation by the fountain. “This thing will pick off the rest one by one, then come after you three when it's at its strongest.”

“That makes sense,” Zac agreed. “It must know what you are, or at least that you can hurt it.” He turned to Alex. “Do you have any way to contact your, um, friends?”

“We have radios,” Alex replied, “but,” he held up a little black plastic box from his waist, “they aren't operational. Just static, no matter what channel I try.”

“What about cell phones?” Skye asked. “You must know their phone numbers.”

Alex blinked twice, and reached for his pocket. He pulled out one of the now ubiquitous little glass and metal tablets. He shook his head. “No charge. Jacob?”

“I just charged mine so it should be... stone dead,” Jacob breathed.

“Makes sense, I guess,” Skye sighed. “Part of sealing a location involves cutting off all outside communications. So the thing drains radio batteries, cuts phone lines, all that stuff. I was hoping smart phones were too new for it to figure out.”

“Do you have a phone?” Zac asked.

Skye nodded. “Yeah and... huh.” She held up a small device. “Well that's great. My phone's not immune to the effect.”

“Why would it be?” Alex asked. “I mean what is it, a death phone?”

“I think it's a Samsung,” Skye shrugged. She slipped the apparently useless device into a pocket somewhere on her odd, charcoal gray jumpsuit. Zac wondered whether her suit was a uniform like the brown shirts of the Hunt Initiative, although her outfit had no markings or patches that might identify her as belonging to any group.

“What about the mall's PA system?” Jacob asked. “That works, at least it worked yesterday. Bill and I were playing with it.”

“Worth a try,” Skye said. “Where is it?”

“Oh, it's...” Jacob stopped, and looked at Zac. “It's, uh, in the security office? But there must be a unit in the main office too. We should check that one.”

“We should check the one we know worked,” Alex protested. He turned to glare at Zac. “He's not afraid of a room, are you, elf?”

Zac glanced at Skye, who was looking from Alex to Zac with a tiny frown pulling at her features. She was so small, so young. She looked delicate. If he explained what Alex referred to, she would not seem delicate at all. He swallowed a lump of nausea and shook his head.

“It is only a room,” Zac agreed. “Let's go warn the rest.”

Alex led the way, with Skye close behind. Zac took the rear, on the assumption that his superior hearing would be useful. Though, Skye could sense the creature before it ever made a sound Zac might hear.

The back access hallway leading from the mall proper to the security office was dim, nearly dark, with only a single flickering bulb lighting the way.

“Was it this dark before?” Zac wondered aloud. “It seemed brighter. But I was... less aware.”

Last time he'd been suffering from iron poisoning, a distinct lack of oxygen, and shock.

“It was brighter,” Alex said, “power must've shorted. This place really should be condemned.”

“It will be,” Skye said, “and likely bulldozed. Labyrinth will wipe out any sign of the slasher's actions.”

“Just like you people cover for all of the Hidden's crimes,” Alex sneered.

Skye shook her head. “We have to hide this thing's existence. It feeds on fear. What do you think will happen if an entire populace learns about it?”

“Well, yeah, I get needing to cover for this one thing, this one time,” Alex acknowledged, “but what about this guy?” He pointed to Zac.

“I'm not guilty of any crime,” Zac pointed out.

“What about kidnapping?” Jacob asked. “Elves steal children all the time!”

Zac shook his head. “You read too many fairy tales. I haven't kidnapped anyone since the sixties.”

All three humans looked at him.

“It was a prank!" Zac explained. "I helped the drama class convince their professor he'd been abducted by aliens. It was funny! And he was fine.”

“I really want to hear the rest of that story,” Skye said.

“Maybe later,” Zac shrugged.

They'd reached the security room by that point. Alex entered first, followed by Skye. Zac hesitated on the doorstep. It was just a room. There were only two people here who had any desire to hurt him. Not a half dozen. He wasn't bound. The drugs were out of his system. He wasn't helpless.

It was only a room.

So why was it so hard to step over the threshold?

Jacob scuffed a foot against the concrete floor. “We should stay together,” he muttered. “What if that thing comes for us while she's in there?”

“You're right,” Zac said. He took a deep breath.

He expected the boy to shove him aside to reach the presumed safety of the reaper's side, but he waited until Zac stepped into the room. Doing so with an enemy at his unprotected back was one of the harder things Zac had accomplished in his long life.

The room was exactly as it had been; tiny and claustrophobic and smelling of iron and dust. The pipe to which he'd been chained was scratched from his struggles. There was a lot of water on the floor, he had struggled more than he recalled. The implements they'd used against him sat piled on a long, mostly empty desk that took up one entire wall.

Zac looked around for the PA system. All he saw was a mass of wires and buttons and what might have, once, been a microphone. It did not look functional.

Skye was standing in the corner, looking from the discarded chains to the water bucket to the desk. She looked at Zac, and then Alex. And then she moved.

He knew what she was, how fast and how strong. It was still somehow startling to see a tiny, not even five foot tall human girl grab a full grown man by the throat and force him against the wall. She pinned Alex with her forearm against his windpipe. The man scrabbled at her arm, leaving red scratches that she completely ignored. He kicked at her but she didn't even flinch.

“What did you do to him?” Skye yelled into Alex's face. “What happened in here?”

Alex made some choking sounds that were probably not the answers she wanted.

“Skye?” Zac approached slowly, not wanting to trigger her into a full trance.

She looked at him. Her face was young but her eyes were old. And not the age of the Reaper inside her, either.

“Zac, what did they do to you?” her voice was soft, gentle, and deadly.

“I...” Zac hesitated.

Any part of the truth was Alex's death warrant. But he could not lie to her.

“Why do you think anything happened?” Zac asked, hoping to distract her.

“You hesitated,” Skye said. “You faced down a slasher with a glass knife and seven broken ribs but you flinched coming in here.” She pointed her free hand towards the desk. “It doesn't take much to guess what that mess is for. What did they do?”

He took a deep breath. This wasn't right. She was a child; Death Incarnate or not. She shouldn't have the weight of a sapient life taken in cold blood. Not for Zac's sake.

“Please,” Zac softened his voice, “It's bad enough being in here. I'd rather not relive it in words, too.”

“Oh.”

Skye's voice was soft, shocked and a little shamed. Zac felt bad for that but at least she dropped Alex. The man clutched at his throat and coughed, choking in air.

Jacob spoke up, voice shaking. Zac was just glad the boy had not tried to interfere. Skye wouldn't see him as a child; as she was younger than him. She would strike him down as well.

“The, uh, the PA system... it wasn't that messed up. Before. I think someone smashed it?”

Skye walked over and poked at the mess.

“Yeah,” she said, “Odds are it was the slasher. Guess this is a dead end, unless I can...” she pried up a faux wood panel and began prodding at things. She pulled a little tool out of her suit. “Maybe? Let me...” she worked at the panel. There were some sparks, and a lot of static.

“I think, maybe, we can get out one message. A very short one.” She looked at Alex. “Will your men obey?”

He nodded.

“Warn them. Tell them to run, just run, and hide. We'll have to look for them. It's too dangerous to send them all to one place. The creature will hear anything we say.”

Another nod. Alex stumbled to his feet, and approached the girl. Zac had to admit, the rat bastard had some courage.

“All Hunt Initiative members: this is Alex. You are being hunted. Repeat. You are being hunted. The creature is bullet proof and kills indiscriminately. Do not engage.” He paused. “If you see it, run. Repeat. Run. Help is coming.”

He jumped back as the PA system exploded into sparks and fell silent.

“Tell me I didn't just lie to my men,” Alex said. “Tell me you're still going to help them.”

Skye looked at him, arms crossed over her chest. “In a just world, I could leave all of you to your fates.”

“But... but you said you were here to save us!” Jacob wailed.

Skye shrugged. “I'm here to save the people of this city. To do that, I stop the Slasher.” She pinned Alex again, this time with her eyes. “The easiest way is to keep your lot alive until dawn. That isn't the only way.”

“You mean killing the slasher?” Jacob squeaked.

“That, or,” Skye smiled. It wasn't a pleasant smile. “It only gets power from your deaths if it kills you. If I kill you it gains no power. So just remember, that's always an option.”

Jacob and Alex both paled. Zac moved to place a hand on Skye's shoulder. She spoke coldly, as if their deaths were simply another plan she was considering. He had a feeling though, that she would be more bothered than she let on.

“We should move on,” he suggested. “This room is too small for even you to fight effectively in.”

“Right,” Skye said. “Come on. We need to find your idiots before the creature does.”

She stalked out of the room.

“Don't insult my men!” Alex croaked out after her. He followed close on her footsteps.

Zac moved to follow, in case he needed to break up another argument. Jacob stopped him with a hand to his shoulder. Zac hissed as his hand touched still raw skin and twisted to look down at the boy. What did he want?

“I uh,” Jacob swallowed hard. “I didn't know.”

“What?”

“I didn't know they were gonna...” he glanced at the area where Zac had been tortured. “I thought they were just going to ask questions. Maybe scare you a bit. Not... I mean, we're the good guys. We're trying to save people here.”

“According to you and your friends,” Zac said, speaking softly so Skye wouldn't overhear, “I am not a person.”

Jacob flinched.

“If you're trying to apologize,” Zac said, “I have no absolution to offer. You did not take part in that,” he motioned, “but neither did you speak out against it.”

Jacob crossed his arms across his chest. “I thought you did something really bad to Taylor. He was all loopy, acting weird.”

“He was very drunk,” Zac pointed out. “That's why I escorted him to his dorm.” He shrugged. “You would prefer I left him to die of alcohol poisoning or stumble into traffic?”

“Come on already, you two,” Alex said, leaning back into the room. “We need to stay together.”

Zac nodded and followed him out of the room. Jacob hesitated a moment and then joined them.

“I don't know what you were filling the kid's head with,” Alex growled to Zac, “but he knows the truth. You're all monsters. If this thing weren't after your ass too, you'd be hunting us along with it.”

Zac shrugged. He wasn't filling the boy's head with anything but the truth. Jacob, like all young people, would have to make his own determination what he would believe.

The group reached the end of the long, narrow hallway right as a massive, metallic crash echoed throughout the mall proper, followed by a male voice shouting curses.

“That's Mike, did the slasher catch him?” Jacob whimpered.

“I don't hear it laughing,” Skye pointed out.

“Where did that come from?” Alex asked.

Zac pointed. “That direction, maybe a football field's length.” He considered what he remembered of the mall's layout. “Probably the main entrance, or near there.”

“Is your hearing that accurate?” Skye asked, curious.

Zac flicked at the points to his ears. “These aren't purely decorative.”

“Right. Elves are so superior to us mere humans,” Alex drawled.

Zac shrugged. “Our hearing? Yeah. I mean, on average. There are deaf elves, and some extraordinary humans probably have better hearing than us, but it's just how things are.” He paused. “If it makes you feel better, the average human sees more colors than we do.”

“Really?” Jacob asked. “Why?”

“Not the time,” Alex growled. “Let's go before that creature finds Mike.”

“Yeah,” Skye said, “Lead the way.”

“Why me?” Alex demanded.

“Because your men are likely to shoot me or Zac on sight, that's why,” Skye said.

Alex rolled his eyes but started walking. “Wouldn't want that, would we?”

Skye stuck her tongue out at his back. Zac had to chuckle at the open display of childishness.

It was, perhaps, dangerous to prod at Alex's pride. But it made the girl smile, and that alone was worth the risk. Besides, a laughing Skye was less likely to unleash her more dangerous side and kill everyone.